


Cookie Time

by EnchantingShell



Category: Teen Wolf (TV)
Genre: AU, Baking, Cookies, Coping, Fluff, Friendship, Love, M/M, Mentions of other characters but very brief, Stressed Stiles, Worried Derek, baking au, dealing with stress, fluff all over the place, sterek
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2017-12-08
Updated: 2017-12-08
Packaged: 2019-02-12 03:02:15
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 2,821
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/12949887
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/EnchantingShell/pseuds/EnchantingShell
Summary: “You bake when you’re stressed and sometimes you give me cookies, but recently you’re giving me whole baskets each day, now I’m not complaining but are you okay?” AUStiles bakes when he is stressed, and Derek helps him out





	Cookie Time

**Author's Note:**

> This fanfic is based on an AU I found on tumblr. It was cute so I wanted to recreate it. I hope I do it justice

It had become a thing by now, and who could complain? Who, in their right mind, did not enjoy cookies? And on top of that, free cookies! Today Derek was receiving just that: free cookies. He could smell them even before he opened the door to his flat. When he opened the front door, he was met with the sight of a young beauty of a man with moles splattered across his face and down his neck. The pattern of moles continued beneath the sweater the boy was wearing, but that was hidden to the naked eye. Derek knew, though. He had the most beautiful, captivating, brown eyes, and Derek knew they made people fall in love at first sight.  
“Hi Stiles”, Derek greeted the other, stepping to the side to allow the other male to enter. Stiles did so with a smile on his face, only now presenting a small tray of cookies.  
“Hi, Der-Bear”, Stiles teasingly replied to the greeting, making Derek fondly roll his eyes. That nickname seemed to stick around. He had hoped it would die out eventually, but Stiles had used it for a couple of years now, so it did not seem very likely. Every time Stiles used the nickname, however, Derek found himself smiling subconsciously. Perhaps a part of him liked it?  
“What kind of cookies did you bring today?”, Derek asked, knowing it would take Stiles’ mind off of whatever thing was stressing him at the moment. He knew the other well enough to know that he always spent time in the kitchen when he was stressed out about something. Usually the root of the stress would turn out to be an exam or a test which Derek knew that Stiles would ace. He always did.  
“Hah.. Chocolate chip cookies. Your favourite”, was the reply from the freckled male. Derek grinned as Stiles set the little tray down on the counter in the kitchen. It seemed as if Stiles knew Derek well too.  
“You wanna stay for a moment and have a cookie and some milk?”, Derek asked, as he always did. He had already made his way towards the fridge to get the milk. He was surprised to see Stiles pulling away from the kitchen instead of nodding.  
“No thank you, I uh.. I think I’d better get going, Der”, Stiles said with a little apologetic smile.  
Caught by surprise, Derek struggled with constructing a proper sentence. “Uh.. Oh.. But.. You just got here..?”  
Usually they would sit down with a glass of milk each, eat their cookies and drink their milk while they talked over whatever was currently stressing Stiles out. Stiles leaving before any of that happening was very out of the usual.  
Derek followed Stiles to the door, but before he could do as much as wave goodbye, Stiles had turned around and run off. Derek was left in the doorway, still feeling confused about what had just happened.

  
Over the course of the following days, this scenario repeated itself. Stiles dropped by with cookies, then ran off before the two had a chance to do anything other than exchange a few pleasantries. As the scenario kept repeating, the number of cookies increased, as did the frequency of the visits. Some days Stiles dropped by several times in a day.  
When Stiles dropped by a week later with a huge basket full of cookies in each arm, Derek got worried. What was Stiles so stressed about, and why did he not want to talk to Derek about it? It was fine if Stiles did not want to talk about it with Derek, but the latter could tell that he was not talking to anybody else about it either. There were so many cookies in those baskets, and the more cookies there were, the more stressed Stiles was.  
“Stiles”, Derek said with a tone coloured by worry. “We have to talk”  
Stiles froze like a deer in the headlights, hands on one of the baskets he had just set down on the kitchen counter. It was almost as if the phrase “we need to talk”, had made Stiles feel panicked. It was obvious that a chat was due, however. Derek’s kitchen was overflowing with cookies at this point. Stiles had dropped so many off lately, and since he had no way of eating all of these cookies at such a fast rate, they were just lying there.  
“Come on, Stiles”, Derek mumbled, stepping closer to the male in the kitchen. “You’re obviously stressed out? It’s fine if you don’t want to talk to me about it, but you have to talk to someone about it. Your dad, maybe? Or Lydia?” He was genuinely worried about the other, just suggesting names of the people he knew that Stiles trusted and could confide in. “Or Scott?”  
Stiles had not turned around yet. He was still standing with his back facing Derek, and he was not making any signs of turning around any time soon. Therefore, Derek stepped closer, eventually wrapping his arms around Stiles from behind, arms looping around his waist. It only made Stiles tense up even more than he had been before, but Derek did not seem to notice.  
“Come oooon, don’t leave me hanging” Derek even leaned in and rested his chin on Stiles’ shoulder. His front was pressed against Stiles’ back.  
“Derek, I ca-n’t”, Stiles eventually said, voice breaking, head lowering.  
This only worried Derek even further. He rarely ever saw Stiles like this. In fact, he was not sure he ever had seen Stiles like this. Sure, he had had breakdowns in front of Derek before, but usually he would talk to Derek about it and they would end up cuddling on the couch while watching some ridiculous show on TV Stiles had found. It always brought them both peace of mind since it required little to no thought process.  
“Stiles”, Derek softly said, pulling back completely. He then grabbed onto the other’s shoulders and turned him around to face Derek. The taller of the two frowned in worry, hands moving to cup Stiles’ cheeks, thumbs resting on top of his cheekbones. “You know you that you can always talk to me, right?”  
Stiles was still avoiding eye contact, but at least he was not turning his head away.  
Derek was trying his best to be understanding and a good friend, but this was honestly very frustrating. Since he did not know what was wrong, he had no way of helping the other. He did not like seeing Stiles like this. Seeing him hurting was hurting Derek too.  
“I have to go”, Stiles finally creaked out, then pulled away from Derek, gone before the man even had time to properly react to the escape.  
Once again, Derek was left confused and with a feeling of helplessness.

  
Derek went a few days without seeing Stiles after that, and he thought that it might be because Stiles had finally talked to someone about whatever was stressing him out.  
When Derek had to leave the house, though, he was met by a mountain of baskets full of cookies outside of his front door.  
“Holy shi-“  
From what he could see, there were at least six big baskets full of different kinds of cookies; vanilla, chocolate, triple chocolate, different variations of cookies with berries, as well as fruits. He was pretty sure he even saw one with marshmallows in there somewhere, or maybe it was just white chocolate?  
Derek quickly grabbed his phone and cancelled his plans, then carried the numerous baskets inside of his apartment. After making sure that he would actually be able to leave through the front door, Derek grabbed his keys and left his apartment. This had gone on for way too long. If Stiles did not want to talk to him, he would have to find Mr. Stilinski and make him talk things over with his son. It was clearly needed.  
The first place he looked for Stiles was the only place he had to look; Stiles’ apartment. He knocked on the front door, but getting no reply after several knocks, Derek got worried and decided to just enter the apartment. He and Stiles were best friends, after all, and Derek knew that Stiles would not mind him entering without getting any confirmation.   
Once inside, Derek closed the door behind him, then followed the smell of cookies to the kitchen where a sweaty Stiles was bent over a bowl of cookie batter, whisking as if his life depended on it. Droplets of sweat ran down his temples, and it made Derek wonder what was making him work so hard on the cookies. What was he so stressed out about this time around? And how long had this been going on now? One week? Almost two? It had escalated over the last couple of days, that was for sure.  
“Stiles..?”, Derek called out, eliciting a gasp from Stiles who quickly turned to face the guest with the whisk in his hand. He seemed very surprised to see Derek in his apartment.  
“D-Derek..? What are you..?” His sentence was left unfinished, but it was okay since Derek knew how it was supposed to end.  
“I’m worried about you, Stiles.. I know what the cookies mean, but you keep leaving before we can talk?”  
Stiles clutched the whisk in his hand and Derek took a step closer to the mess of a male.  
“I can’t talk about it with you, Der..”  
“Why can’t you? I mean, it’s okay, I understand if you don’t want to share everything with me..” Derek sighed, moving a hand to rub at the back of his own neck. “I’m just really worried, Stiles.. You made so many cookies.. It’s eating you up!”  
Stiles finally caved in, shoulders relaxing a little bit as if he was slowly letting all the worries go. He even put the whisk down and moved to the nearest chair to sit down. As if on cue, Derek followed the other, sitting down across from him. Stiles was yet to speak, but Derek could already tell that this was going to be very important, and that it would take Stiles a lot of courage to open up. Derek respected that, so he did not urge Stiles to hurry up.  
It would be another couple of minutes of the two just sitting there, Derek patiently waiting for Stiles to speak up. He had already waited for this long, so what difference would a couple of minutes do?  
“So..”, Stiles finally said, taking a deep breath after that single word. “I’m going to say a lot of things, and I just want you to stay calm, okay?”  
Derek did not know what kind of effect Stiles had thought that sentence would have on him, but it certainly did not make him stay calm. Being told to stay calm only made him fear that something was wrong with Stiles. Was he sick? Was that why he had been so stressed out lately? Derek felt his entire being fill with worry, doing the exact opposite of what he had just been asked to do.  
“You don’t look calm”, Stiles said, then let out a nervous laugh before continuing, “Recently I realised that I might have caught the uh.. You know, the feelings? For you-ish?” Another nervous laugh. “And I don’t know if you are creeped out by that? And you’re my best friend, and I don’t want to lose you, ‘cause you’re probably the best thing since cookies? And you’re so beautiful with your eyes and your face and your everything, and you’re so kind, and loving, and caring, and I keep making all of these stupid cookies..” His hands had been flailing around while he had spoken out about his feelings, and now that he was no longer talking, his hands were looking all too still. It took Derek a moment to process what had just been said, but when he had, he reached across the table they were sitting at, turning his hands around so they were palm up.  
“Stiles, look at me, please”, he softly urged, hoping that Stiles would reach across the table top and take a hold of his hands. The warmest of brown eyes soon met Derek’s green, making the latter smile. Freckled hands reached across the table top too, gently grabbing a hold of Derek’s.  
Stiles’ confession stirred a lot of feeling inside of Derek. Feelings which he had been suppressing for longer than he had realised. He loved Stiles in more ways than one, and the thought of losing him to a stupid confession of love had jut not seemed worth it. He had kept it to himself so the two could continue being friends. He was happy that Stiles had confessed, but now Derek had so many questions. How long had he known? Had he just realised recently that he had feelings for Derek? What if Derek had confessed a few years back? Where would they have been today if he had? Would Stiles have confessed back then too? Or would it have destroyed their friendship? There was no point in thinking about it now, he realised, and besides, the past did not matter. All that mattered was the now.  
“Stiles, I.. I can’t believe this. You have romantic feelings for me..?” He was still in a slight state of shock, but who could blame him?  
Stiles’ face reddened at the question.  
“Yes, I- Sorry, I know it’s silly-“, he said, making a move to pull his hands away. It only made Derek tighten his grip, though, making sure he could not pull them away due to a stupid misunderstanding.  
“No, no, Stiles, that’s not what I meant at all.. I’m just surprised, that’s all” It did not cross his mind that he was yet to confess to Stiles and that he was leaving the poor guy hanging.  
“Then I don’t understand..”, Stiles trailed off, brows furrowing in confusion.  
Derek smiled lopsidedly at the other, giving his hands a little squeeze.  
“I’ve been in love with you for years but I didn’t want to ruin what we had so I never said anything”, Derek finally confessed, breaking the suspense between them.  
The sudden confession made Stiles huff, then he pulled a hand away to gently slap Derek’s shoulder.  
“You ass! And you didn’t say anything?! What did you think was going to happen? That I would be like ‘Oh, this extremely handsome guy likes me, better run off’”, Stiles said, deepening the tone of his voice to say the last part of his sentence, then laughed, pulling his hand away from the shoulder to hold Derek’s hand again.  
The older of the two chuckled at the change of voice. “You don’t realise how ironic that is, do you?”  
And Stiles really did not, judging by the raised brow. Derek just shook his head dismissively, then squeezed Stiles’ hands again.  
“Why don’t you hop in the shower? I’ll clean up out here, and afterwards we can watch some silly TV show?”, Derek suggested. Stiles might not be sweating any more, but his skin was still glistening from when he had absorbed himself in the making of the cookies.  
“I beg your pardon, my shows are not silly!”, Stiles protested but he let go of Derek’s hands and stood up anyway. “I’ll shower really quick, okay?”  
Derek nodded, then watched Stiles walk off to the bathroom, leaving Derek with the messy kitchen which he had just promised to clean up.  
Most of the unfinished cake batter went in the trash can, and the bowls, whisks, etc. went in the dishwasher since Derek could not be bothered washing it up by hand. To his pleasure, he saw that Stiles had a bunch of cookies freshly out of the oven. Derek arranged the cookies on a plate and poured them each a glass of cold milk. After carrying it all to the living room and setting in on the coffee table, Derek felt very pleased with himself.  
When Stiles re-entered the living room, dressed in a warm sweater, sweatpants, and fuzzy socks, Derek felt himself falling in love with the freckled beauty all over again. Opening up his arms, he invited Stiles in, the two of them soon cuddled up comfortably, a silly TV show of Stiles’ choice playing on the TV.  
“Do you promise to cool it with the cookies now?”, Derek eventually teased. It earned him a laugh from Stiles, but unlike earlier, this laugh was not brought on by nervousness but instead full of warmth.  
“Yeah, I promise. Got nothing to stress about now”, Stiles replied with a smile.  
“I’m bringing some of the cookies to your place. You’re not getting out of helping me eat them”, Derek teased. Stiles just rolled his eyes and mumbled out a “Yes, sir”, before he leaned his head against Derek.


End file.
